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Macaron Tutorial

Saturday, March 17, 2007

Yep...a cheesecake....If you are new to blogging or this whole food blogging thing you might be wondering why so many of us are baking and writing about cheesecakes this week. Why? We are answering "The Call" shouted by Peabody a few weeks back inviting to participate in "Hay Hay It's Donna Day" #10, originally created by Barbara.

There are a few reasons why this one got named "Pillow Cheesecake". It came from a conversation I had with B. one night, comfortably resting our heads on our mountain of pillows as we were contemplating going to sleep but found ourselves completly captivated by the subject of cheesecake. Why sleep when you can spend the next 45 minutes pondering a mighty important question: "what constitutes a great cheesecake?"Disclaimer: the upcoming answers only apply to the author of this blog and her husband. Individual experiences may vary.

"It has to be fluffy...can't be dense or a block..."

"yeah....Pillow Soft..."

"gotta have some chocolate, somewhere..."

" and a hint of citrus..."

"pass me another salted caramel (brought back from Normandy)...."

"I think I just took the last one..."

"allright, then it has to have some salted butter caramel something somewhere somehow...".....and then we decided to go to sleep....Mom always told me never to go to bed angry, but she forgot to tell me about not going to bed hungry...we had cheesecake dreams the whole night!

Kidding aside, here were my directives for this cheesecake: chocolate, citrus, fluffy texture and salted butter caramel. How to put it all together without creating something utterly weird?

I opted to put the chocolate in the crust and settled on a recipe by Trish Deseine simply because I have been telling myself every single day that even though I have already made the same recipes at one point or another in my life, I have not made hers and maybe I should...and there it was, the perfect picture of a perfect chocolate shortbread cookie. I made the entire batch but only used half for the cheesecake bottom and froze the remaining for a later use.

For the batter, I have plenty a recipes on file in my memory bank from my days at the restaurant. For the citrus element, I grated a whole lemon and added the zest to the batter (no juice). Since i was not making a lemon cheesecake per se, I just wanted that extra bite in the background.

The secret to that "pillow" texture that B. was talking about (or was it me....can't remember...I agreed anyway), I separated the egg yolks from the whites and whipped the latter to stiff peaks before incorporating them to the batter. I admit that my days were so full at the restaurant that I skipped this step 75 % of the time. The cakes were denser but still not brick, because I used less eggs and added a Tb of cornstarch and 1/4 cup of creme fraiche.

For the sauce, I perused a few of my favorite French blogs in search of the perfect salted butter caramel sauce and found one that I liked too much to change or alter. If you read French, head over Guillemette's blog Chocolat & Caetera, you will not be disappointed but you are sure to get hungry!

Pillow Cheesecake with Salted Butter Caramel Sauce:

It is better to start the cake a day ahead of time, as it needs to refrigerate for a leat 6 hours.

Serves 12

Chocolate Shortbread Base, from Trish Deseine:

250 gr. butter, very cold, cubed small

85 gr. sugar

300 gr. flour

25 gr. cacao powder

Preheat the oven to 350.Work the butter, sugar, flour and cacao with a food processor or your fingers to get a sandy mixture. Work the dough for a minute. Divide the dough in half. Reserve one half to make shortbread cookie or refrigerate for another time.Press one half into the bottom of a 10 or 12 inch springform pan. Bake for 40 minutes.Let cool completely.

Cheesecake Batter:

2 pounds cream cheese, softened

1 stick butter (115 gr), softened

1/4 cup creme fraiche or sour cream

1 cup sugar

5 eggs

2 Tb. cornstarch, sifted

zest of one lemon

Combine the cream cheese, butter, sugar, lemon zest, creme fraiche and cornstarch in the bowl of a stand mixer and whip until combine. Do not incorporate too much air or the cake will crack. Make sure the cream cheese and butter are very soft. Add the egg yolks one at a time and whip just until combined.Whip the egg whites until stiff. Gently fold them in the cream cheese batter.Pour the batter over the chocolate shortbread crust. The batter will reach the rim of the cake. Wrap your springform pan with heavy duty aluminium foil, set it in a large roasting pan, add enough hot water to come up halfway up the side of the pan. Bake at 325 for 1 1/2 hours. Turn the oven off, crack the door of the oven open and let your cake cool in there for 30 minutes. Remove from the oven and refrigerate completely for a few hours or better yet overnight.

In a heavy saucepan set over low heat, combine the sugar and water and heat just until the sugar is dissolved. Add the butter. Let it come to a boil and cook until it reaches a golden caramel color. Remove from the heat and add the cream ( it will splatter and get crazy, but do not fear and trust the recipe). Whisk to combine and put back on the stove. Let it come to a boil again over low heat and cook 10-15 minutes until you reach a nice creamy consistency. Pour into a jar and try to refrain yourself from drinking it!

This one was a keeper. We had friends over that evening and we could not stop pigging out. The cake was so light it was a sin. The sauce was so incredible we are all guilty of gluttony....it is decadent over ice cream.

This is just wrong. Craving cheese cake so early in the morning.That looks just divine. Between the chocolate crust and the caramel - salted butter - sauce I am totally lost in the clouds! Beautiful job!If only I had just a small slice.

Oh, how lovely! I've been dying to try the whole salted caramel thing, but something always seems to come in the way. I'm quite fond of fairly heavyset cheesecakes, but I think I'll give the separated eggs thing a try next time!

hey helen, i was looking for a salted butter caramel (izit called caramel beurre sale in french)? yours just came in handy. but actually im trying to sandwich my macarons with and this sauce might be a little too watery. is there any way to make it thicker? appreciate yr help, thx =)

THAT IS SIMPLY OUTRAGEOUS!and I don't usually shout..please excuse. I love Trish Deseine's books though I've never made a thing - for The pictures and the concepts. I was feeling icky from eating pates de fruits before breakfast, but I feel better now :)

*Sigh* Late to the party again, I see.The deliciousness on this blog is ridiculous! It's a shame the only part of me that gets along with caramel sauce is my tummy... sugar based anything and my stove have a long-standing rivalry!

Thanks everyone for all your comments. I wish I could have time to respond individually but this week has been very hectic.I appreciate all your comments, they are always so touching and make this adventure worth while.Thank you!

This cheesecake was so good! I ruined the caramel sauce (cooked it too long), but I'm looking forward to trying it again soon. Can't wait to bring the rest of this cheesecake in to my co-workers. Thanks for sharing the recipe. :)

i just had to let you know this is what did it for me. i'm really into to making all kinds of cheesecakes now, and for my first, original, i beat my egg whites like you and they come out so fluffy and light, but still rich now. a necessary step, i would say. thanks!

Helene, i discovered this amazing cake a while back, but i didn't have time to comment. Then, last week it was by d.h's brthday, and although we decided to have the party only this coming Saturday, i wanted to make a cake for him on his birthday, not just a week later. And cheesecake being his favorite, i knew which one i wanted to make. I started at 9:45 pm to prepare it, and made the caramel sauce. I don't have words to tell you how wonderful it came out, pure "pillowy" or "cloudy" i, have never seen anything like it, and i really don't go nuts for cheesecake. I didn't made your crust, and i added some chopped crunchy peanut butter Reeses to it. My daughter and I were allowed one small slice each, the rest was devoured by G. But teh caramel sauce is out of this world. I burnt my tongue at least three times trying it, and took a little cup with me when i went to bed. Thank you, thank you, thank you. I hope to have time to post this succes on my blog sometime next week, if that's ok with you.

I was looking for your salted caramel sauce that you used in banana foster tartelette and found it with this cheesecake recipe. After reading this blog, I am now tempted to make the cheesecake too.This looks and sounds enticing. Thank you for sharing this. Keep inspiring us =)

It would have been nice if you had converted the recipes to pounds, ounces, etc. Metric measurements are foreign to me and most Americans. I am eager to make this cheesecake, but uncertain I can translate the measurements accurately.

wow! this looks *delicious*. i was looking for a perfect cheesecake recipe, and this seems to do the trick! i will let you know how it turns out! thanks so much for sharing (i'm a big fan of your blog!)

I found this recipe through foodgawker and saved it a while back. I finally got the chance to try it out yesterday, and it turned out awesome!!!!! The cheesecake was light and fluffy like a pillow, the chocolate crust was delicious, and the caramel sauce was amazing!!!

I ended up only baking it for an hour (toothpick was clean and top was golden brown), and instead of salted butter I used unsalted butter and added sea salt in after it cooled a little.

I found the link to your wonderful cheesecake recipe on Lemonpi's blog . . . I made it for a friend's birthday and it was very well recieved! The most pillowy cheesecake they'd ever had, by all accounts. I added some Morello cherries for a fruity bite. Turned out nicely. So thanks!

I stumbled on this recipe a couple months ago but just yesterday decided to make it for Mother's Day. I cannot even begin to explain how DELICIOUS it was. I could die. Even though there was something a little bit wrong with every ingredient I put into it, it was mindblowingly decadent. My family was skeptical at first because I'm known to be messy and ungraceful with food (not to mention I'm 15 years old and generally live on cereal and toast). I even had to substitute the heavy whipping cream in the drizzle for milk and butter. Thank you so much for this recipe. I will continue to make it for special occasions for as long as I can!

I shouldn't, but I am going to make this cheesecake. I think it's the prettiest one I've ever seen...or at least the combination that I like....chocolate, fluffy cheesecake and a decadent looking salted caramel sauce. Yum! Maybe I will make for the opening day Patriots tailgate next weekend.

Oh dear, I think I've over-cooked it. Am taking it to a BBQ today so will find out then-will be very disappointed if I have, it wasn't the easiest thing I've made! I can't get the hang of baked cheesecakes-how the heck do you know if they're cooked?! And please don't say "if they're firm around the edge and jiggle in the middle" because when they're still warm the whole bloomin thing jiggles! Any advice greatly appreciated!Thank heavens for that delicious sauce :)

Haha, would you beleive the cheesecake was divine and the sauce turned out to be the problem?! Not sure what I did wrong with the sauce, but the cheesecake was a hit-thank you for sharing this great technique!

Having never made a cheesecake before I was somewhat intimidated. I shouldn't of been. This is amazing and totally doable.I plan on making it again tomorrow for my husbands birthday because it is phenomenal! I've made one slight adjustment in decreasing the lemon zest which is only due to personal preference. This cheesecake is a gift from the cheesecake gods and the caramel sauce is wonderfully simple and amazingly delicious all on it's own.

For the sauce, is it BROWN sugar, instead of granulated? I had been stirring the sauce with white sugar for over an hour, waiting for it to turn caramel-colored, when I realized that brown sugar is typically used for caramel sauces. If this is true, can you please edit the recipe so novice bakers such as myself don't waste time (and run out of the ingredients!) doing this the wrong way?

I'm so disappointed, the cheesecake looks great but now it is so late I have to wait until tomorrow to try it. :-(

Karen: as a former pastry chef, I can tell you that brown sugar is never used for caramel sauces. I can't be positive but it sounds like you added the cream with all the ingredients and stirred waiting for it to become caramel color. I make this sauce once a moth at least, so I know it works. Once the sugar-water-butter combo becomes caramel color, add the cream slowly.